Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

 I seem to be combining these two days more often than not nowadays!  Kind of like "killing two birds with one stone", but then again, I really don't want to do that!  How about "two for the price of one?"  That's a little better! LOL.  So anyway, here it is Thursday night, and I do have a lot to be thankful for this week, but it seems as though pictures are worth a 1000 words, so to keep from making you read so many words, it's just easier to tell it with pictures!

Speaking of birds, let's start with a few nature photos around Still Waters Pond! That always seems to be a big hit with everyone!

With all of the rain we've been getting here lately, Still Waters Pond is filling up and looking happy! It seems as though the wildlife around here is happy as well...The Great Blue Heron has been back to do some fishing in the early mornings...

He seems grateful for the abundance of food in the water...

Mrs. Bluebird is also grateful for a warm, dry house in which to raise her young ones. I'm not sure if any baby birds have hatched yet, but she definitely seems to be spending a LOT of time in the house...so perhaps she's still waiting for things to happen.

The Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have been very active at the feeder. This is a female, but the male comes around frequently, and it seems there's at least one other because we've seen three at a time exercising their territorial rights around the feeder. It's kept me busy refilling with fresh food every other day or so.

But I don't mind. It's been delightful to watch them. 

We don't often get to see them in the trees, but this morning Mrs. Ruby Throat spent some time preening herself, totally oblivious to the fact that I was busily taking pictures all the while:

Perhaps she has a date with Mr. Ruby Throat later and wanted to look her very best!

She's so beautiful, don't you agree?

I am thankful for this front row seat to the world of God's wonderful creation right before our eyes!

If you look really closely, you can see her "tongue" sticking out of her beak.

Perhaps she was actually giving herself a "spit bath".  LOL. 

I hope she feels much better now!

Remember when I showed you this tomato growing in our "garden"?

Well, it finally ripened enough for us to eat, and it sure was delicious!

Nothing like home grown tomatoes! Now I just wish I had planted more! Maybe next year I'll get a little more ambitious!

So very thankful for our son Scott, who came on Father's Day and mowed the lawn for us...

And then grilled wonderful steaks for our Father's Day dinner! Since our other family members were still out of town, it was just us here, but we made the most of it and truly enjoyed spending some time with him one on one.

After dinner he put together the new weed whacker that I bought for hubby for Father's Day. We wanted a light weight, battery powered weed whacker that we can use ourselves that won't be too difficult to manage.  

Scott got it put together in no time, and we tried it out the next day and it works great! So thankful for smart kids who know how to take care of things like that for us!

I mentioned in my last post HERE that my brother in law was having back surgery on Monday, and I wanted to thank you all for your kind words and prayers on his behalf.  He came through the surgery well and seemed to be doing really good the next day, and so they discharged him on Wednesday. But he actually wasn't feeling quite as well on that day, and by evening he was so weak and having oxygen level and BP issues, so my sister and her daughter took him back to the ER and they ended up admitting him.  However, today he seemed to be feeling better, and so at my last call to my sister this afternoon they were getting ready to discharge him again.  I haven't heard anything different so I am assuming he has gone home.  Please continue to keep Art in your prayers. I think this surgery was a lot more extensive than expected, and he's not going to bounce back very quickly.

And as I mentioned in another previous post HERE about my hubby having some medical tests done last week and that we would be getting the results this week, well that is what we did yesterday. We are very thankful that the tests did not reveal any new surprises and now we are just waiting for a plan to take care of some issues that we already knew about but just had to wait on the go ahead to take care of them.  We are very thankful that some things are already coming together and we know that God is in control and has a good plan.  Our God is an awesome God!

On our way back home from the appointment we stopped for lunch at a little cafe' in a small town where we have often stopped in times past.  However, this was the first time we had been to this particular place since new owners had taken over.  I was looking forward to trying it out again as our previous experience had not been too good, and we actually kind of know the new owners (sort of, through one of their relatives), so we anticipated it being much better.

The new decor was fun, with some Lionel Trains around the room.  With my love for model trains, thanks to my father who collected them, I was certain this place was going to be really fun and unique.

I decided to order a Reuben sandwich, because I haven't had one in a long time, and I thought this place should have a good one.  Well, sad to say I was very disappointed. It was not like any reuben sandwich I'd ever had before.

I managed to eat it, but decided that it would definitely not be something I would order there again, if I ever go there again.  And that's all I'll say about that! But, still, I am thankful for the time spent there with my hubby, and was happy I didn't have to fix lunch we we got home!  (Trying to keep things in a positive light!)

To finish off yesterday, when we got home we noticed that our thermostat was registering a higher temperature than normal. At first I thought maybe something was wrong with the thermostat since I just changed the batteries the other day...maybe the batteries were bad? But we definitely could tell that the house was getting warmer as the afternoon progressed.  Thankfully, we have an air conditioning repairman on our "speed dial", since we've needed him frequently in the almost 4 years we have lived in this house.  He is always quick to respond and is very fair in his pricing. He was able to come out late in the afternoon to assess the problem.

This old AC/heat pump unit was frozen up good...and after checking everything out he proclaimed it to be too old to repair...parts are no longer available for this 21 year old model, and basically it's time to quit putting bandaids on it and replace it with a new, more economical and energy efficient model.

Cha- ching! But after much discussion and prayer and counting our pennies (LOL), we decided he was right and we need to go ahead and bite the bullet and get it replaced. Because we have already done so much business with him, and also because he also takes care of our church's AC systems and also because we've recommended him to everyone we know here in town...he did give us a very good discount, and so, long story short, he will be here tomorrow (weather permitting) to replace this antique model with a brand new one.  Meanwhile, he was able to put another temporary bandaid on this one to keep it running for a few more days, but we keep expecting it to freeze up again any minute. So far so good, and we are very thankful. And also, the weather, although rainy off and on, has been a bit cooler than normal for this time of year, only reaching the low 80's instead of the 90's, so that has been a big help. Again, God is good...in the little things and the bigger things.  We are counting our blessings for sure!

Well, I guess that about wraps it up for this week. 

Oh, one more thing. This coming Sunday hubby and I and another man from our church are planning to sing this song in the worship service.  Here's another rendition of the song, "Until Then", for you to enjoy...praying God will be glorified in this music as we sing it for His honor.

My heart can sing when I pause to remember

A heartache here is but a stepping stone

Along a trail that's winding always upward,

This troubled world is not my final home.

Chorus

But until then my heart will go on singing,

Until then with joy I'll carry on,

Until the day my eyes behold the city,

Until the day God calls me home.

The things of earth will dim and lose their value

If we recall they're borrowed for awhile;

And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,

Remembered there will only bring a smile.

Chorus

But until then my heart will go on singing,

Until then with joy I'll carry on,

Until the day my eyes behold the city,

Until the day God calls me home.

This weary world with all its toil and struggle

May take its toll of misery and strife;

The soul of man is like a waiting falcon;

When it's released, it's destined for the skies.

Chorus

But until then my heart will go on singing,

Until then with joy I'll carry on,

Until the day my eyes behold the city,

Until the day God calls me home.

Amen!